Heating appliance

“ It is the least expensive plant to be used for general heating. Indirect radiation from hot water or steam is to be preferred to a furnace. A combination of a hot-air furnace with hot water, or steam, is used with fair success. In this case, a hot-water coil is placed in an ordinary furnace, which connects with hot-water radiators in a conservatory or other room for the purpose of contributing a uniform degree of heat to that room. The water supply is a tank, located well above the level of the radiators, and connecting through an inlet pipe with the coil in the furnace. ”

“ Gas stoves are becoming increasingly popular by reason of the ease with which they can be put in action and made to maintain an even temperature. But the most up-to-date heating apparatus is undoubtedly electrical. Utensils of all sorts are fitted with very thin heating strips (formed by the deposition of precious metals, such as gold, platinum, &c., on exceedingly thin mica sheets) , through which are passed powerful currents from the mains. ”

“ Particular care should be taken to make sure that whatever type of heating is employed is adequate in size. It is more economical to operate a heater that is somewhat oversized than to “rush” one which cannot easily maintain a comfortable temperature in cold weather. Heating engineers and contractors are available to furnish information on heating costs in every locality. The generally used types of heating include stoves, circulator heaters, warm air, hot water and steam systems, and fireplaces. ”

“ The problem of heating water is of serious dimensions for life without hot water to civilized man and woman is a poor struggle.
At present there are on the market, distinct from the usual hot water plant installed in properly built and equipped houses—many different and efficient heaters and boilers.
In houses where there is no hot water central plant there can be bought for moderate rates an electric heater which is attached to the faucet in tub or wash basin or sink and through its system of copper coils over which the water flows through, you can get hot water immediately! ”

“ Heaters.—Heaters are used sometimes in cold dressing rooms, in box offices and in other small spaces where other adequate heating arrangements have not been made. The fire hazard incident to the use of electric heaters is considerable and they should be carefully installed according to the rules given below.
From one-half to three watts per cubic foot will be required to heat a room. The quantity of heat necessary to be supplied depends largely upon the ventilation. ”

“ Heating Unit. The heating unit of a hot-water system is like any stove consisting of a fire pot and grate. Some are adjustable so that different kinds of fuel may be [66] used. A gas burner is sometimes placed in the fire pot and used for heating a furnace, but this is one of the most wasteful ways of using gas. A real gas furnace is much more economical. The fire and heat from the fire circulate around the coils containing the water. If the coils are not constantly kept full of water, they will be injured by the heat. ”

“ In fact, in the future we shall not have a brushing machine, a machine for washing up plates, a third for washing linen, and so on, in each house. To the future, on the contrary, belongs the common heating apparatus that sends heat into each room of a whole district and spares the lighting of fires. ”

“ The hot water in the radiators cools and, in cooling, gives up its heat to the rooms and thus warms them.
In hot-water heating systems, fresh air is not brought to the rooms, for the radiators are closed pipes containing hot water. It is largely for this reason that thoughtful people are careful to raise windows at intervals. Some systems of hot-water heating secure ventilation by confining the radiators to the basement, to which cold air from outside is constantly admitted in such a way that it circulates over the radiators and becomes strongly heated. ”

“ Electric Heaters.—As almost every store is now provided with electric light service, and electric heaters can be purchased in all sizes on the open market, the interest in this new application of electric heating is universal. All that is necessary is to place a small electric heater in the window in any concealed position, and to connect it with the lighting mains. ”

“ Heating unit of electric stove.
The cooking of food on an open burner should be started [44] with high heat turned on so that the food may cook quickly. If a large amount of food is cooking, there will be so much radiation from the vessel that it may require all the current to keep it cooking. After food has started cooking, the switch can be turned to medium, and, later, to low, depending upon the amount of food and the temperature desired. Low will keep an ordinary pan of water boiling, once it has started. ”

“ You have to live with your heating plant, they do not—and it’s pretty much on your head that discomfort falls. Were we building we would be quite intimate with the heating end of life, in fact take a heated and intensely feverish interest in it. Therefore, after your plans, etc. are hatched, call on a heating engineer for a few suggestions, and then go to your contractor and see from whom he is to buy your boiler and what type. ”

“ Heaters are almost universally used in connection with steam fire engines to keep the water hot, and in many cases to keep a few pounds pressure to shorten the time of going to work should the fire be close at hand. This boiler has an advantage for this kind of heating; the circulation is so perfect and free that all the water in it is heated alike ”

“ One necessity, however, is the provision of motive power, very small though it be, to work the fan or otherwise promote a draught.
Electric heating is, however, the method which will probably take precedence over others in all those cases where systems are tried on their actual merits apart from sentiment or usage. The wonderful facility afforded by the electric heating wire for the distribution of a moderate degree of warmth, in exactly the proportions in which it may be needed, gives the electric method an enormous advantage over its rivals. ”

“ The points to be observed in a proper and efficient hot-air heating system are the following:
(1) The furnace must be of a proper size in proportion to the area of space to be warmed. (2) The [Pg 167] joints and parts of the furnace must be gas-tight. (3) The furnace should be placed on the cold side of the house, and provision made to prevent cellar air from being drawn up into the cold-air box of the furnace. (4) The air for the supply of the furnace must be [Pg 168] gotten from outside, and the source must be pure, above the ground level, and free from contamination of any kind. ”

“ Fire risk is reduced to a minimum, because there are no matches, no kindlings, no kerosene cans, no oil barrels and nothing of the sort to endanger life and property.
The efficiency obtained through the operation of electrical appliances soon becomes evident to the user. The heat generated for ironing, for instance, is all utilized. This is true as well with heating or cooking appliances, and this utilization of practically all of the heat units naturally results in economy in operation in communities where the lighting or power company has made a favorable rate. ”

“ Must be heated, where artificial heating is necessary to prevent freezing, by steam or hot-water systems, the heater to be located in a separate building, and no open flames to be permitted within generator enclosures. ”

“ An electric heater comprising a receptacle, containing oil having a high flashing point and means for circulating the same, a resistance conductor immersed in the oil and adapted to heat the same, and a heating system partially within the container and arranged to receive its heat from the circulating oil. ”

“ In laying out the floor plans for the heating system of a large office building it is a mistake to try to reduce the number of risers to a minimum. It is much better to put in risers enough so that a radiator can be placed under any window in the building without too long a connection from the riser, for in such buildings one can never know what changes in the arrangement of rooms or in the location of radiators may ultimately be desired. ”

“ A plentiful supply of hot water is a necessity in every house for domestic and hygienic purposes. In small houses all requirements may be satisfied with a boiler heated by the kitchen fire. For large buildings where large quantities of hot water are used an independent boiler of suitable Hot-water supply. size should be installed. Every installation is made up of a boiler or other water heater, a tank or cylinder to contain the water when heated, and a cistern of cold water, the supply from which to the system is regulated automatically by a ball valve. ”

“ An important consideration in all cases of hot-air heating is that the air be taken from the outside through a conduit instead of using the air from the cellar, as is too frequently done. In some cities and suburban towns, pure air is brought into the cellar through a conduit where it passes through a box in which it is heated by steam pipes, the steam being brought from a central plant which supplies several hundred houses. The air when heated passes through flues to the several rooms of the dwelling, and is turned on and off by registers in the usual way. ”

“ Water-ways thin enough to heat water rapidly. Quality and position of heating surface must not allow for waste of heat. 65% of heating surface should be in direct contact with heat, 35% in flue surface. Response to your dampers will show you if you have 65% of your heating surface in direct contact with flame! Go and see the best hot water boiler in your vicinity—before you buy consult your engineer and ask about others. ”

“ Cold air enters at the bottom of the frame, becomes warm by passing over the heating elements, and rises out at top and into the room. More cold air enters the frame and is heated in the same way, and in a very short time the whole of the air of the room becomes warmed. The full power of the heater is used in the preliminary warming of the room, but afterwards the temperature may be kept up with a much smaller consumption of current, and special regulating switches are provided to give different degrees of heat. ”

“ The efficiency of an electric stove or electric iron, or, in fact, any electrically heated device, may be determined in a manner similar to the water heater. In the case of a stove, place a vessel filled with water on it and measure the heat imparted to the water in a given time, also the input to the heating element in the same time, from which data the efficiency may be calculated. ”

“ So far as I know, the furnace or other heating apparatus for dwellings has not been constructed which is provided with a proper evaporating apparatus. The pan is set in the side of the furnace, with an opening to the outside into which water may be poured. It is small, and has very little evaporating surface on the inside. Oftentimes the joints at the outside are so poorly made that the cold air from the cellar may be drawn in over the water in the pan, and in that way prevent its proper evaporation. ”

“ This rule when applied to a boiler with a well-designed furnace, stack and setting should be very conservative. It is much better to estimate the steam consumption of the entire plant (see Chapter V., page 60 for steam consumption of radiation) and calculate the boiler requirements according to the rules of boiler design. The designs of the cast-iron heating boilers are innumerable and can only be selected by the careful judgment of the engineer. ”

“ Generally speaking, the electric heating may be done in a tenth of the time required by the forge or furnace, and the power required is between three and four horse power per cubic inch of metal heated. The feature of electric heating already noticed of a bar becoming more highly heated at the center than at the surface when exposed freely to the air, is shown in a very convincing manner at this exhibit by fusing the core of an inch bar without it losing its shape. ”

“ Should a defect occur with a wrought iron boiler it is usually necessary for the purpose of repair to disconnect and remove the whole apparatus, the heating system of which it forms a part being in the meantime useless. In a type built with vertical sections each division is complete in itself, and is not directly connected with the next section, but communicates with flow and return drums. ”

“ In both the steam and water heating systems the band or collection of pipes in each room may be covered with ornamental radiating plates, or otherwise treated or arranged to render them sightly and effective. In one form of the hot-water system, however, the collection of a mass of pipes in the rooms is dispensed with, and the pipes are massed in an air chamber over or adjacent to the furnace, where they are employed to heat a current of air introduced from the outside, and which heated [Pg 208] pure air is conveyed through the house by flues and registers as in the hot-air furnace system. ”

“ This factor of furnace temperature more properly belongs to the consideration of furnace efficiency than of boiler efficiency. There is a point, however, in any furnace above which the combustion will be so poor as to actually reduce the furnace temperature and, therefore, the proportion of heat absorbed through radiation by a given amount of exposed heating surface. ”